College Hockey America
College Hockey America (CHA) is a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference is currently made up of five women's teams in Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania. History The CHA was founded as a men's-only league in the 1999–2000 season. The conference was formed by seven teams, three of which were Division I independent teams, another three moving up from Division II, after the NCAA stopped sanctioning Division II hockey in 1998, and one new varsity program (Wayne State). The newly formed women's division of the CHA began play in the 2002–03 season with four teams. Findlay, Mercyhurst and Wayne State were former Great Lakes Women’s Hockey Association members, while Niagara played previously in the ECAC. The CHA Women's Division managed to remain at four teams between 2002–2008; although teams continued to come and go. In 2004, Findlay dropped its women's hockey program and was replaced by Quinnipiac University for one season. In 2005, the Bobcats removed its women's team and moved to another conference (ECAC). They were replaced by the Colonials women's ice hockey team of Robert Morris University. In 2008–09, Syracuse University started up its women's hockey program and joined the conference; bringing the total number of teams in the CHA Women's Division up to five. The CHA Men's Division folded after the 2009–2010 season, leaving the CHA as a women's only conference. The fate of the four remaining CHA men's teams was as follows: Niagara and Robert Morris moved to Atlantic Hockey; Bemidji State joined the WCHA; and Alabama-Huntsville continued play as an independent, but have since moved to the WCHA. The 2011–12 academic year and season brought many changes to the CHA. Wayne State abruptly ended their women's hockey program, dropping conference membership to only four teams again for the 2011–12 season. The conference announced that Lindenwood University would officially join the CHA for the 2012–2013 season. Lindenwood, then in the process of transitioning its athletic programs from the NAIA to the NCAA, had already been slated to play ten games against CHA opponents in its first season of NCAA competition as an independent program for the 2011–12 season. On March 19, 2012, Niagara announces it was dropping its women's ice hockey program effective immediately; as a result, the Rochester Institute of Technology team was allowed to immediately join the CHA upon its move from D-III to D-I for the 2012–13 season. Penn State, which had announced it would upgrade its men's and women's hockey from club to NCAA Division I status for 2012, was accepted for admission to the CHA for the 2012–13 season. In sum, the CHA continued as a women's-only conference for the 2012–13 season and beyond with a total of six teams consisting of Mercyhurst (original member from 2002); Robert Morris (joined 2005); Syracuse (joined 2008) and new members Penn State, Lindenwood and RIT. Members : Men's team joined in 2004 Former (Women's Division) members *University of Findlay Oilers, 1999-2004 (dropped program ) *Quinnipiac University Bobcats, 2004–2005 (moved to ECAC) *Wayne State University Warriors, 2002–2011 (dropped program) *Niagara University Purple Eagles, 2002–2012 (dropped program) Conference arenas Women's tournament finals For the first time in conference history, the 2006 men's and women's tournaments were held at the same site: The Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Detroit, Michigan. The 2008 tournaments were also held jointly, at Dwyer Arena in Lewiston, New York. Postseason women's hockey history Prior to the 2014–15 season, The CHA did not have an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for its conference tournament champion. At that time, with membership having remained stable at six teams (Mercyhurst, Robert Morris, Syracuse, Lindenwood, RIT, and Penn State) for two consecutive seasons, the autobid was granted. In the table below, all NCAA appearances prior to 2015 were at-large selections. Men's division The CHA was originally founded in 1999 with only a men's division. Three of the seven charter members, Alabama–Huntsville, Bemidji State,and Findlay, had recently moved up from Division II, while Air Force, Army, and Niagara were formerly independent. Wayne State were a charter member, and began sponsoring varsity hockey in 2000. Niagara went undefeated in conference play in 1999–2000, winning the conference tournament and gaining an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament. (The conference did not gain an automatic bid until the 2003 tournament.) Army spent only one season in the league before leaving for the MAAC. Findlay dropped their hockey programs following the 2003–2004 season, to be replaced by Robert Morris, who began play in 2004–2005. After Air Force left for Atlantic Hockey in 2006 and Wayne State dropped their program in 2008, the conference was left with only four teams. The CHA sought to add new programs to its men's league, hoping to draw interest from some of the top club teams in the country, including Kennesaw State University. However, these efforts came up short, with CHA and school personnel citing Title IX as a major hurdle in the negotiations. On January 29, 2009, Niagara University announced that it and Robert Morris University were moving to Atlantic Hockey beginning in the 2010-11 season.http://www.purpleeagles.com/sports/mhockey/release.asp?release_id=11115 Niagara Men's Hockey To Join Atlantic Hockey Bemidji State applied again to the Western Collegiate Hockey Association for inclusion and was accepted, along with the University of Nebraska-Omaha of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Alabama-Huntsville applied to the CCHAhttp://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=104225 Alabama-Huntsville interested in CCHA, WCHA following the announced departure of Nebraska-Omaha and was denied. http://www.uahchargers.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1008&Itemid=245 CCHA denies hockey program's application for admission - Press Release - Aug. 11, 2009 As a result, Alabama-Huntsville began competing as an independent team beginning with the 2010–11 season. Member schools There were eight member schools in total. The conference began in 2000 with seven teams, and ended in 2010 with four. Championship games Tournament champions were awarded the Bob Peters Cup. Regular season champions Regular Season Champions and their conference records. * 2000 - Niagara (15-0-2) * 2001 - Alabama-Huntsville (15-4-1) * 2002 - Wayne State (15-2-3) * 2003 - Alabama-Huntsville (13-5-2) * 2004 - Bemidji State (16-3-1) * 2005 - Bemidji State (16-4-0) * 2006 - Niagara (13-6-1) * 2007 - Niagara (9-5-6) * 2008 - Bemidji State (13-4-3) * 2009 - Bemidji State (12-5-1) * 2010 - Bemidji State (14-3-1) Postseason Men's Hockey History At-large invitee. College Hockey America was not awarded an automatic bid until 2003. Conference Tie-Breakers *1: Comparison of conference game results between tied teams (head to head) *2. Comparison of Conference Wins *3. Comparison of Results against the top two teams *4. Comparison of Results against the top four teams References External Links * Official website *